My Trip to Taiwan
The visit flew by and challenges were met by those living, working and travelling here to keep it going smoothly. I missed the high speed rail ticket time, still was able to board a later, non-reserved train. The hotel in Taichung (Cityinn Taichung Station Branch) was happy to change out the bedding to non-feather substitutions, assist with laundry and even escorted me to the car rental place. At the rental office two gentlemen and I talked through Google Translate with some patience, which got us through the final paperwork. I took the complimentary COVID-19 tests which we all received on arrival on the first night and before hopping in a cab to the airport. Another useful tool is the camera function (Google Lens) on Google Translate to take a picture of food labels which will show ingredients of food, vegan labels and much more. I saw friends, students and previous co-workers at my old schools in Mingjian and stopped by my home at the time. I even had tea with who was one of the best managers I’ve had of all time, in Nantou. There is a 24-hour Carrefour in Taichung which I went to a couple of times as well as the one in Nantou. Last night after going up in the clouds to see Taipei 101, I walked around through the Chinese New Year decorated shopping areas searching for a vegan restaurant. I eventually found Meimen in the basement of a fancy department store. Afterwards a Naruto exhibition was going on with life-size character cut outs and scenes with video screens for taking pictures of and reminiscing. I showed the ticket taker my Sasuke tattoo with enthusiasm and bought a type of sharingan eye patch at the end to sew on my coat or something. What a great trip, but way too short! I will probably have to make a photo album for this section of the trip as well because there are many. Today on the long journey to Seoul, Korea.